1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to an efficient technology for route guidance by a vehicle navigation system or by a hand-held navigation apparatus.
2. Description of Related Art
A vehicle navigation system, which guides a vehicle user by a specific route, recognizes the position where the vehicle is presently located by matching of map data stored in a memory such as a CD-ROM or a DVD-ROM and the GPS data. The system then calculates the route, and guides the user according to the calculated route to the destination from the current location.
In this situation, setting of the destination is made by the vehicle driver""s or the navigator""s option. It is common for the user to set the destination for sightseeing or shopping by selecting it, for example, from phone number data, longitude and latitude data, or from xe2x80x98landmarksxe2x80x99 included in the map data.
Thus, for example, the vehicle user who wants to go to a shop having a bargain sale, has to set the position of the shop as the destination to the vehicle navigation system based on the phone number data or landmark data before departure. The user will then arrive at the shop, i.e., the destination, by driving the vehicle according to the guidance of the vehicle navigation system.
However, such a route guidance technique is not to the shop""s advantage. Particularly, for a shop located in the suburbs, that is, a shop that is difficult to locate, it is likely that the shop cannot attract customers efficiently in spite of the huge parking area, because it is difficult for people to set the destination in their vehicle navigation system.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a technology of route guidance that can make it possible for vehicle users to be guided to shops or facilities without requiring a complicated operation of the navigation system, and also to give both the users and shops or facilities an economic benefit.
The first aspect of the invention involves the distribution of memory mediums storing position data of specific facilities that can be read as position data of a destination on the map data of a vehicle navigation apparatus.
The memory medium is not limited to a CD-ROM or a DVD-ROM but can also be any medium that has space for storing and can be read externally, such as, for example, an IC card, a DAT, a Smart Media, a SD card, a compact flash memory card, or a PCMCIA card. It is preferable, however, that the medium be inexpensive and capable of being distributed widely.
Moreover, the specific position data stored in the memory medium is not limited to the longitude data and latitude data of the specific shop or facilities, but can also be any data that can be matched with the map data stored in the vehicle navigation apparatus side, such as the data which can be set as the destination to the vehicle navigation apparatus, or the phone number data of the specific shop.
Furthermore, it is also available to store the data of a coupon in the memory medium. The data of the coupon is, for example, the cash-data, the data corresponding to cash that can be paid in the shop, the discount-rate-data or the discount-data itself.
When a user sets or inserts this memory medium to a fixed location (for example, into a memory medium reader) of the navigation system, the position data of the specific facilities is read and is set as the destination. Then, the vehicle navigation apparatus starts route guiding to the destination. After arriving at the destination, the user can shop or obtain the benefit of a discount at the facilities (the shop) by using the memory medium.
As described above, a vehicle user can be guided to the facilities (shop) without having to set the destination, because the destination is set automatically by inserting the memory medium into the vehicle navigation apparatus. In addition, storage of the data of a coupon in the memory medium can promote the rate of customers using the memory medium; therefore, it can make efficiency of gathering customers higher.